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From Riesling to Pinot Noir - wine reviews, tasting notes, stories and ramblings across (and beyond) the world of German wine. Read more.
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- Speak, barrel sample - an afternoon with Dallmayr's winemaking elite (Part one)
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Hi David,
of course you're right to be concerned. I am too, and I was not making my point clearly enough: When I referred to rising alcohol levels, I didn't mean that that in itself is a sign of a rise in quality. On the contrary, 15% in a Pinot Noir are (to put it less politely than you have) unacceptable. What I meant is that whatever problems german reds may have, ripeness is no longer one of them, since that is what you probably implied when wondering if german Syrahs can be as good in 'normal' years.
Are "international" red grapes the way forward in german reds? First of all, I don't so much see Pinot Noir being replaced by Syrah & Co., I think the "victims" would rather be traditional lighter reds like Portugieser, Trollinger and so on, and white grapes, as this is where the long-term shift is going. There certainly won't be a german Hermitage or a german Margaux in our lifetime, but I can see good and interesting Cru Bourgeois quality on the horizon. If this happens without throwing Pinot under the bus (which, again, I don't see happening), who's complaining?
Best, Julian
David,
While I am sure Julian will also have something to say on this, I would like to add a few comments here.
I am a known sceptic if it comes to high alcohol wines. I almost feel 12.5% is the limit for white and 13.5% for red, although I appreciate that there are excellent Rieslings, for example, that come in the 13+ range - especially the bone dry great growths. So if being sceptic with regards to high alcohol level is old fashioned, I would be old fashioned too.
Luckily, German reds with 14% or more are rare. This Syrah is among the strongest German reds we have reviewed on the Wine Rambler - nothing more than 13.5%. So no reason to panic just yet! However, we have come across a few whites that are very strong: Julian, for instance, a while ago tasted a German 14.5% Pinot Blanc - to quote: 'Now Bercher needs to do something about alcohol levels, and they have a killer.' On Sunday, I took it even further and opened a Pinot Blanc that clocked in at 15%. And guess what, it came from the Mosel - Markus Molitor. To my surprise, it was actually drinkable, smooth and well balanced for 15%.
My point is that if it works I have no problem with this, as a wine for special occasions. I would make a similar argument for planting international grapes in Germany: if this produces good wines at reasonable price levels, why not? Of course it would be a shame if Chardonnay, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon would take over the German vineyards and make what makes Germany special disappear. Luckily, I do not think we do even need to consider worrying about it yet.
At the moment I just enjoy having more variety, being surprised every so often and learn how certain varietals could be interpreted in Germany.
So you will find more on this on the Wine Rambler, but not at the expense of the good old classics, from Riesling to Pinot Noir!
Hello again Torsten,
I've enjoyed your enlightened posts on interesting wines so much it would be a distinct pleasure to meet you and share some wines. We must arrange it at some point.
Cheers,
David.
Hello Julian,
Many thanks for your thoughts on German reds, most instructive.
I am sure the quality of German reds is going up all the time. Even with my more limited experience of them I have tasted more and better reds recently than even 5 or 10 years ago. However, two things slightly concern me about your post:
Firstly, 13.5% is fine, but I'd be a tad surprised and concerned if I purchased a German red that clocked in at 15%. Even from wines in the warmer regions of Germany I seek lightness, elegance and balance. I worry that this would be lacking in a 15% wine. To be honest, there are not many wines I enjoy which are 15%: Zinfandel yes, but please never Pinot.
Secondly, is it really the way forward to plant Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah in Germany? Certainly there will be some good examples made (like the one reported here), but surely these things can be done better in other countries? I can see there might be a market in Germany for 'home-grown international wines', but I'd rather get the actually international wines and enjoy my elegant harmonious German reds made from more traditional varieties. Am I just too old fashioned?
Cheers,
David.
Thanks for sharing the information, Christian. It always amuses me when I hear people say that German wine is all sweet, when in fact most German wine is dry, as you rightly point out. It makes sense that Loosen is producing wine specifically for the US market - I would assume that the basic Loosen wine that my local London supermarket has, "Loosen Br.", is made for export too.
Now I see Julian has beaten me to it! I strongly agree with everything my co-Rambler has said about the topic - and not only because he lives much closer to where it is all happening.
To answer your question: no, I have not tried another vintage of this Syrah. I would assume that the weather played a role in the wine being so well developed, but I cannot compare it to the other vintages. I do hear good things about Syrah from the Pfalz from 2007 though - will keep my eyes open and hope to report back, or perhaps even share one with you at some point!
T
Well, if at any point you feel like writing a second piece on Hungarian wines, please let us know. I really enjoy learning more about wine from Central Europe and I only regret that I do not have time to explore all the tempting wines straight away. But I will keep my eyes open for Hungarian wine in the future!
I so agree! I could write volumes on kekfrankos, dry furmint, and Hungarian cab franc. So many lovely wines, I would love to tell about them all.
David, now you've brought a ramble on yourself:
I haven't tried this particular wine from other vintages, nor can I claim to have anything approaching the tasting experience needed to judge quality and consistency over a strech of many vintages. And yet, there is no doubt in my mind that we've seen nothing yet when it comes to german red wines, and that Syrahs and Bordeaux blends are not only there to stay, but will steadily improve. There are four reasons for that:
We don't do scores at the Wine Rambler, for good reason, but we do follow scores. And since I've started following them four or five years ago, ratings given by the reliable german wine guides, journalists and knowledgeable bloggers (reliable meaning those not caught in some commercial loop and not tempted to score "patriotically") have gone up consistently, both for reds in general, and for warm-climate reds.
The second is alcohol levels. In the last few vintages (from 03 on), the better german reds, especially the Spätburgunders, have had high alcohol (over 13.5 %, up to 15%) pretty much across the board. That doesn't automatically make them better wines. On the contrary, it is a troublesome issue. It does mean, though, that ripeness-problems, at least where adequate vineyard sites and competent growers are concerned, are a thing of the past.
Not to forget, number three, that climate change is not only the future, it has been happening for some time. It has, in fact, already changed the scales of what a "hot year" and a "cool" or "classic" year means: Until the the 1980s - as I'm sure you know, being a Mosel afficionado - 2 or 3 vintages per decade were really non-vintages on the Mosel, i.e. it was all but impossible to get grapes to ripen sufficiently to produce, not great wine, but any drinkable wine at all. In the 1990s, this was no longer the case, and in the 2000s, freakishly hot has almost become the new "classic".
Last, but not least, as Torsten pointed out, it's only since a few short years ago that Cab, Merlot or Syrah can be legally grown in germany. Anything that has been achieved so far has therefore been done with very young vines. Go figure...
Very best,
Julian
Here is my posting about Ernst Loosen.
http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2010/02/ernst-loosen-wines-up-and-down...
He is indeed very active in the US, both with imported and locally produced wines. As to the former, Dr. L is on of the 2 German wines that made it to the Wine Spectator List, a wine unheard of in Germany. With regard to the US wines, his Eroica is very popular and indeed very good.
http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2010/01/germanys-top-wines-ratings-of-...
Cheers.
Christian
Thanks for the nice post! I fully agree with your conclusions. To learn about top Hungarian wines, you should definitely try the Icon grapes of Hungary. Especially concentrated, aged dry whites from Furmint and Harslevelu (Tokaj and Somlo region) and Olaszrizling (widespread around e.g. lake Balaton). From the reds you mustn't skip Kekfrankos (Sopron, Eger, Villany), Kadarka (Eger, Szekszard) and Cabernet Franc. The grapes you have mentioned are nice too, though they represent a light, fresh and fruity style.
Thanks David. The Irsai Oliver is probably the easiest to find outside of Hungary. It's a very pretty, aromatic wine. It can pair with lightly spiced foods and I especially like it on a hot summer day. Always a pleasure to try new varietals isn't it?
Just out of interest, have you tried other vintages of this wine. As we discussed in the comments of another post, 2003 was a crazy bonkers super hot vintage. As such, I think a grape like Syrah that can take heat well would do best in Germany in a vintage like this. The question is, how good would this wine be in a more classic, cooler vintage? If you've tried one I'd be fascinated to know how it performed.
Cheers,
David.
Excellent - so let's have a tasting in the not too distant future and explore some, I trust, very pleasant wines and perhaps a few surprises too. Pinot Noir, after all, is always tempting!
With regards to possible effects of climate change I am not really concerned for the foreseeable future. As you rightly point out, right now the weather seems to support the German wineries in going from strength to strength and I am sure they will be able to deal with both the odd very hot and also rather cool year. I wonder more about long term trends, thinking several decades ahead - not that my brain can really compute climate change models for the Mosel forty years ahead...
With regards to 2003 I actually came across a few really good ones. The Reinhold Haart winery made some excellent late harvest Rieslings, for instance, and Knipser also delivered good wines in that year (but then both wineries seem to do so pretty much every year).
All the best and keep up that good working finding interesting wines!
Torsten
Thanks for your comment, Christian. I think this was in reply to a one of our tweets mention Dr. Loosen? It never fails to amaze me how popular Loosen is in the Anglo-Saxon world. Even my local supermarket in London has Loosen wine. I do not want to say that these wines would be bad, in fact one of the Kabinetts I can buy here is actually decent value compared to other fruity whites here. However, this omnipresence must have something to do with good marketing too.
Syrah is still rare in Germany, no doubt, but this wine here is also certainly not a one off. Other wineries are exploring Syrah and just the other day I came across another Syrah from the same area of Germany. Some people seem to be a bit sceptic whether Germany should explore these more 'international' red wine grapes though, arguing that it was better to focus on the more typical 'German' varietals such as Lemberger. I think that as long as the wine tastes as good as this one it cannot possibly be wrong to produce such a wine in the Pfalz. And I am sure we will see more of it. The Wine Rambler will try to sleuth them out (no matter if that's a word or not).
Torsten old bean,
I hope if you do put on such a tasting the Elitist Review editorial team will be invited; it'd be fascinating! We could bring some oaked red Pinot Noir to add to the experience.
I'm not sure how much we should be worried when it comes to climate change and German Rieslings. Certainly there have been some warm vintages recently, but none as crazy as 2003 since then; I don't see a trend. 2008 produced light German Rieslings of beauty and precision; lovely Kabinetts from the M-S-R. I think we'll be drinking such refined, beautiful wines for a very long time to come.
If I may briefly rave about about the 2003 vintage all over Europe, I found almost all European 2003 whites to be poorly balanced and just too heat-affected. The normally racy Clos St. Hune Riesling lacked its normal excitement factor. I even have doubts about my Egon Muller 2003s; his wines are normally so refined and balanced, the 03s I got just seem heavy and ponderous. The only European white 03s which I have tried and do not regret purchasing are Jean Boxler's; A review of one is here. If you can suggest any more I'd be interested to know.
Cheers,
David.
Molly, many thanks for this informative posting. I make an effort to try Hungarian wines but there were some varieties in your post of which I had never even heard. I shall keep my eyes peeled!
In fact, Loosen's German winery was downgraded by Gault and Millau this year, while abroad he continues to be a rising star. Will write something about this next week.
What a delicious surprise that syrah was! I have to say Torsten, you should be called the German Winesleuth as you come up with some truly hidden gems! I would love to know more about German syrah, do you think that this was a one off or is it possible that Germany will now begin to produce and export Syrah? It would be a shame if it didn't become more widely known. Cheers! Denise
Thanks! I know this problem myself: you should give the wine cellar key to someone else to keep I guess ;) ! Oskar Wilde was so right when he said: "I can resist everything except temptation!"
Btw, I think I forgot to click the save button the last time on your blog and that's why the comment didn't appear.. My bad!
Looking forward to reading more reviews on your blog!
Alex
Thank you very much for your encouragement! It seems to me at some point I should host an oaked Pinot Blanc and Pinot Grigio tasting...
I see a lot of interest in Riesling these days and it also is my favourite white varietal. If it will really be the next big thing I am not so sure; in Germany at least there are concerns about the impact of climate change - the lighter Riesling style just needs the cooler climate and I wonder what will happen to the Mosel in thirty years from now.
Anyway, right now the climate allows both marvellous whites and reds to be made in Germany, and we will certainly keep looking for those.
Thank you Alex, that is very kind of you to say! And sorry for the trouble with the lost comment.
I just had a look at your blog and now I am suffering: the lovely food pictures are making me hungry and the blind tasting notes, especially the blind tasting notes made me eye the wine rack - and it is not even noon. Both the Rheingau and the Bordeaux selection look amazing!
I think I already commented on this post, but I guess it got lost? Anyways wanted to say that I enjoy reading your blog! keep on! Greets, Alex
Hello Torsten,
Unless the oak was extremely carefully handled I'd be of the opinion that ageing an oaked Pinot Blanc would be a risky business. This is what my experiences with Alsace and Burgundian (yes, some producers do make Pinot Blanc in Burgundy, Gouges to name but one) examples have taught me. I can see that Pinot Gris has more body and weight to stand up to such treatment, but I am yet to taste an offering that has really floated my boat.
I will keep my eyes peeled for Dr Heger wines, they sound fascinating; a very different style to the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Rieslings I love and try to drink as often as possible. Riesling, as I've said before it is the way forward with white grapes.
Do keep up the good work telling us about these interesting wines!
Cheers,
David.